BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN @PRORODEOBRETT
The Guymon Pioneer Days marks the first time the PRCA Playoff Series makes a trip to Oklahoma in the 2024 season.
The Hall of Fame Rodeo is in its 92nd year and attracts more than 1,000 contestants to the panhandle annually with its purse of more than $360,000.
FORMAT
The format in Guymon in the roughstock events is a simple one-header that pays the winners beteween $3,500 and $4,300.
In the timed events, its three rounds to determine the winner on an aggregate. For barrel racers, the winner will be determined by the fastest time on two head.
Guymon is famous for its muleys in the team roping, forcing the PRCA’s best to navigate unexpected moves from hornless steers that have never been run before.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Performance 1
Pay attention to who can handle the fresh stock and longer score in the timed events in the First Performance. Everyone will have already completed in slack, but its a whole new ball game when a horse needs to be sharp in front of a crowd to handle anything the stock throws the cowboys way.
Last year, the winning times on three were 13.1 seconds in steer wrestling, 21.9 seconds in team roping and 26.0 seconds in tie-down roping.
Performance 2
In bareback riding, 2022 World Champion will look to outshine the likes of Cole Reiner and Cole Franks, both of whom are past Resistol Rookies of the Year. Pope won Guymon with 92 points on Frontier Rodeo’s Gun Fire in 2022.
In saddle bronc riding, Rusty, Ryder, Stu and Spencer Wright are all in town while six-time NFR qualifier Jeff Askey is up in the bull riding.
Performance 3
The headliner on Saturday night is a rematch that delivered a championship last year - bareback rider Dean Thompson v. Gun Fire.
Saddle bronc riders Wyatt Casper and Kade Bruno and bull riders JR Stratford and Chase Dougherty could also produce big scores.
Performance 4
Highly rated bareback riding rookies Brayze Schill and Wacey Schalla could put themselves into NFR contention if they win the rodeo like Thompson did as a rookie a year ago.
Meanwhile in saddle bronc riding, Statler Wright is up along with Riggin Smith, who is riding as well as he ever has in his career.
The bull riders to watch try to steal the belt in the final perf are Trey Holston, Lukasey Morris, Josh Frost and Jestyn Woodward.
Frost is coming off of a weekend in which he dominated the George Paul Memorial to move to No. 5 in the PRCA World Standings.
HOW TO WATCH AND BROADCAST SCHEDULE
You can watch every performance LIVE on The Cowboy Channel+ App. For a a full broadcast schedule, click HERE.
| PERFORMANCE | DATE | TIME (ET) |
| Performance 1 | May 3 | 8:30 PM |
| Performance 2 | May 4 | 3:00 PM |
| Performance 3 | May 4 | 8:30 PM |
| Performance 4 | May 5 | 3:00 PM |
